Sometimes delightful things happen unexpectedly. Serendipity.
Alper is a TB'er, one of us, and he posted some stunning photos of his basses in a headless bass thread awhile back. Those basses were so cool, I decided to check out his website, which led to checking out some sound samples, which eventually led to me ordering his CD "Over The Clouds". A happy accident with a delightful outcome.
Alper is a monster and so is this disc. It blew me away on first listen and keeps on delivering. It's jazz, sorta. In some ways it reminds me of Dave Holland's Quintet stuff; but Alper is a much different style of bassist than Dave, so not really. Other times I get some Kurt Rosenwinkel vibe, but again, different. One thing this music has in common with both of those artists is that it seems to be pushing the jazz vocabulary in new ways, trying to say new things; but always, the roots are there. "Over the Clouds" is an appropriate title; there's a lot of atmospheric, ECM'ish quality. But also hard swing, groove, and even balls-out rocking.
Some of the things I like about this disc:
The tunes - thick, knotty compositions, full of twists and turns, but with strong melodies and lines. It always makes sense, never mindless. Each tune evolves, like telling a story or taking a journey.
The players - I'm not familiar with any of the other musicians, but they are all very strong and they play together wonderfully. It's amazing how tight and musical they are with this challenging material.
Alper - his playing is very strong, full of surprises, solid and inventive. He uses a lot of different bass textures, to beautiful effect. Really, the bass tone and the way it's recorded is outstanding. And while it's his date, and the bass is prominent, it always feels like a group record. When he solos, it's such a natural part of the music; like water flowing down a mountainside. He does a wonderful job of walking that difficult line of being a bassist and a leader at the same time; he does justice to both roles.
I guess you could say that I like this record. It is inspiring. Every time I listen to it, I want to pick up my bass. I can think of no higher compliment. Recommended.
http://www.alperyilmaz.net/
/rick
